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By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) is working towards clearer guidelines on sanitary dignity across universities and colleges, Deputy Minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube said on Wednesday.
She made the remarks in a prepared speech for a portfolio committee colloquium on the provision of sanitary dignity products for post-school education and training students.
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“Menstrual health is not a luxury. It is not a peripheral concern. It is a basic human right and a critical enabler of educational access and retention,” she said.
She said the lack of access to products continued to affect students across universities, TVET colleges and community education and training colleges.
“For many young women and people who menstruate within our universities and TVET and CET colleges, the lack of access to affordable and appropriate sanitary products continues to be a silent barrier to learning,” she said.
Government’s Sanitary Dignity Framework defines sanitary dignity as including menstrual knowledge, affordable products, clean water, private and safe toilets, and hygienic disposal. It also recognises that period poverty is driven by poverty itself and can force girls and women to choose between food and sanitary products.
In the school system, the state runs a targeted sanitary dignity programme. In higher education, support is more commonly channelled through existing student funding, including NSFAS living and personal care allowances, rather than through a separate sanitary products grant.
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Dube-Ncube said the department recognised the effect this was having on academic participation.
“We know the reality: students missing classes, avoiding participation, or even dropping out. Not because of academic inability, but because of a natural biological process compounded by economic hardship,” she said.
At the same time, she said that students receiving financial support were expected, in large part, to cover such costs through existing allowances.
“[I]t is reasonable to position sanitary products as part of personal living expenses that financially supported students can manage through NSFAS by giving them, additional to accommodation, transport and living allowances, also personal care allowances, for both males and females to support their basic necessities such as toiletries and sanitary products,” she said.
She said the department had already made “important strides”, including “the distribution of sanitary products in selected institutions”, partnerships to improve supply chains, and “institutional-level interventions to ensure that products are accessible, discreet, and free from stigma”.
But she acknowledged that provision remained uneven.
“The current provision remains uneven across institutions, and funding constraints continue to limit the scale and sustainability of interventions,” she said.
Dube-Ncube said the department was now focusing on policy alignment and standardisation, sustainable funding models and dignity-centred implementation.
“In addition to our policies for social inclusion and equity, we are working towards establishing clear guidelines that will ensure a consistent approach to sanitary dignity across all PSET institutions, while still allowing for contextual flexibility,” she said.
She said officials were considering “innovative funding mechanisms, including public-private partnerships, to ensure that provision is not dependent on ad hoc arrangements but becomes an embedded component of student supply”.
Dube-Ncube said sanitary dignity was “not a ‘women’s issue’. It is a national development issue”.
“When students are supported in their understanding of each other, and their basic needs, they are better able to succeed academically, contribute meaningfully to society, and participate fully in the economy,” she said.
She urged policymakers to treat menstruation as a practical student support issue rather than a source of shame.
“Together, we can ensure that no student is left behind because of something as natural, and as manageable as menstruation,” she said.
